Curse of Kalarel

4th edition, Keep on the Shadowfell

Hi Chaps.

Very good game tonight – Clare and I enjoyed it immensely.

I think that I learned a few things; certainly about how to build a character. For one, I think I was being a bit generous with letting people make stealth checks (looking at you Luke :P). It turns out that you take a large penalty if you move more than 2 squares. Also I should have been making the monsters actively check for stealth (rather than using passive perception).
It also would probably be better to let people roll up their own characters. I thought I would be able to keep track of everything that people can do. It turns out I can’t. For example, I completely forgot about Iain being able to mark enemies that he hits (this gives them a -2 to hit anything that isn’t him and also lets him get a free attack against them if they do hit someone else). As such I will be sharing a link to download the character creator I used – you can all re-roll your guys how you’d like. Having said that, I still think it was best for me to make the characters for the first game, as at least you know how the game works and can make informed decisions on what you’d like your abilities to be. Feel free to ask about anything you don’t understand or want help with. Having said that, I don’t expect everyone to want to do it manually; If people don’t change their dudes I probably will (I figure as long as some people change and have a better idea of what they can do I’m more likely to be able to keep track of the others).

Just to enter it into the record, this is where we are:
The party (whos name I forget – did we actually come up with something in the end?) consisted of:
Trailian Duskshadow (Luke) – Goblin scalp collector extraordinaire and somewhat overpowered Elven Rogue. He mostly forgot about his ability to re-roll missed attacks. Ended the adventure with 9 scalps, 1 javelin, a cold poker and 938 goldDrogo (Dave) – Halfling rogue. Master trap finder (by triggering them). Unable to beat a fully unconscious goblin to death (or at all). Party translator (as he speaks goblin). Forgot to use his second chance power to (once per encounter) force an enemy to re-roll an attack. Unfortunately, one of the party that intended to be mostly melee.Melhalvir (Mike) – Human Wizard and master of psychological warfare. A penchant for terrifying enemies (even out of hiding) by tossing body parts around. Master of the flaming ball of fire. I’m sorry I tried to kill you in the graveyard.
Thirmod Dragonhammer (Chris) – Master of ongoing damage and being knocked on his arse. Saviour of Drogo (he’s the only one who took the time to help him out of the rat pit). Another person that I unfortunately decided should be mainly melee. Slowcoach. Makes inspiring speeches to himself allot. Took a short sword as a trophy.Iaini (Iain) – suicidal human fighter. Winner of the “most graffiti on his character sheet” trophy. Brutaliser of zombie dogs. Thrower of hammers (even though many were at the ground in front of him). Once again, someone I made with too much focus on melee. Didn’t die in the graveyard.Brúnhelga (Clare) – healing powerhouse. Ties with Drogo for the “most unable to beat a sleeping enemy to death” award. Kept many party members alive. Gained the eternal love and friendship of Splug, the drunken goblin. Saved quite a few peoples bacon by exploding a bunch of skeletons in the graveyard. Beware her deadly lance! (of faith)

Splug (honourary member) – Goblin rescued from the torture chamber in the dungeon of Shadowfell Keep. He was thrown in prison because he kept on tricking the other goblins out of their beer rations. He took a real shine to Brúnhelga when she rescued him from said prison. Has claimed to have extensive knowledge of the keep (which nobody’s insight checks can deny).

The story as we saw it:
The group arrived to investigate the dungeons under Shadowfell Keep after hearing rumours of cultists of Orcus (who is the demon prince of the undead) operating in the area. Sages in town had told them that “a door has opened… and it’s dark beyond that door!”. They fear that something terrible may occur. They entered the keep and Drogo immediately fell into a hole in the ground where he was set upon by a swarm of rats. After a pitched battle (and timely rescue from the rat pit by Thirmod), the party split to investigate the area.
Trailian, Thirmod, Melhalvir and Iaini fought a small battle against a minor nest of goblins and won (aided by Melhalvir telepathically throwing the heads of his enemies around). Drogo and Brúnhelga spent 5 minutes trying to beat a sleeping goblin to death (and failing).
The party then searched further into the keep and – after politely knocking at the door of the goblin chief – stormed the torture chamber. Another battle ensued where the poor goblins totally failed in their attempts to trick the adventurers into some traps. The drunken goblin Splug was then rescued from his imprisonment by the fair Brúnhelga whom he fell instantly in love with.
Upon seeing the party attempt what he deemed to be a foolish frontal assault on Balgrom (the fat), leader of the goblins, he told them he could lead them to a secret path into Balgroms lair.
The party decided that they should return and make this assault refreshed, so dragged Splug back to Winterhaven. Unfortunately, when they arrived there, the gates were barred – undead had been rising in the nearby cemetery. As he “didn’t want to deal with this bullshit” Trailian managed to convince the township that the party had already dealt with this threat. In the morning however the parties conscience got the better of them (Thirmod said something along the lines of “if the undead do attack and kill all these guys, who will pay us?”) the party decided to investigate the issue, leaving Trailian to guard Splug in town.
The party adventured to the graveyard, where they were set upon by many undead (most of whom they dispatched with ease). Melhalvir was dealt some mortal wounds, but was able to recover, due to Brúnhelgas holy magic. Iaini was struck down, but was managed to recover after being tended to by Brúnhelga after the enemies were dispatched.
It was in the graveyard that a former ally, Ninaran (an elf from Winterhaven) was exposed as being a traitor. After being stuck the fatal blow (and constantly going on about how somebody called Kalarel was going to kick their arses), the party found a note on her corpse saying:

I received your report on the adventurers. Next time you see
them, put an end to their meddling. Mix the blood of ten people
with the elixir my messenger brings. Then trace the following
pattern on the ground of a graveyard and pour the liquid into
the lines. That should supply you with a force to thwart them.
I’m very close to completion; see that I’m not interrupted. As you
already know, if you do come to the second level of the keep, the
pass phrase is “From the ground, some magic was found.”
—Kalarel
The party returned to Winterhaven to find that Trailian hadn’t been idle when they were away; in addition to polishing his collection of goblin scalps (how does someone even do that? That guy is a bit creepy) he’d managed to thwart an assassination attempt against Splug (fortunately gaining the same amount of experience that the rest of the party had accrued in the graveyard). Apparently the assassin had been sent by Balrog as he was afraid Splug would give up vital information…
…
…
(Trailian has 10 goblin scalps now)

What will happen next time on… Dungeons and Dragons (cue Skyrim music)